MARUYAMA PARK Returning to the north–south street from which the walk to the Choraku-ji Temple began, a right turn brings you back to Maruyama Park, which is bounded on the north by the grounds of the Chion-in Temple, by the mountains to the east, and by the Higashi Otani mausoleum grounds and the Choraku-ji Temple to the south. Maruyama Park is one of the larger public parks in Kyoto. In the past it was the site of several temples, but all were destroyed over time by fires. Within the park is the site of the former Sorin-ji Temple which was established by the great priest Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) in the latter part of the 8th century; its site is now marked only by the Yakushi-do shrine. The famed 12th century poet Saigyo lived here in a cell at the Sorin-ji at one time.
In 1871, the government turned the area into a public park, one of the first such public pleasure parks in the city. With the wooded Higashiyama mountains as a background on the east and the shrine and temples on its three other sides, it is an oasis away from the traffic and noise of the city streets. Two ponds, with a charming arched bridge over the stream between them, a water spout tossing a spray of water into the air, and the maples, willows, cherry trees and colorful bushes have made this a favorite area with Kyoto residents. With restaurants about it, the park has been a place for quiet relaxation and enjoyment for over a century. The center of the park is noted for its hundreds of cherry trees, whose blossoms in early April provide an additional pleasure. In the past they were viewed in the evening by torchlight, and this tradition is still maintained, albeit modern illumination is now provided.
You might enjoy a pleasant rest in the park or some refreshments before returning to Higashi-oji-dori to the west of the park. Here, at the intersection with Shijo-dori, a number of bus lines or taxis are available to the various sections of the city or to the Chion-in, which lies just to the north of the park within walking distance.
8 CHION-IN TEMPLE
Chion-in lies at the foot of Awata-yama of the Higashiyama mountains in extensive grounds (35 acres/14.5 hectares). Chion-in is a very important temple in Buddhism, for it is the seat of the Superior of the Jodo (Amida) sect, with more than 7,000 subtemples throughout Japan as well as branch temples overseas. Thus it is well worth being described in detail. The sect was founded by priest Honen Shonin, for here he had his small hermitage, and here is his mausoleum, a sacred spot for believers. The temple compound includes 17 halls and five gates, and from 1619 to the 1870s it had an Imperial prince as its head until the Meiji government dissolved that relationship. In 1872, under pressure from the government in its anti-Buddhist campaign, the Shue-do (Assembly Hall) of the temple was used as the site of the Kyoto Exhibition, and it was here that Doshisha University, a Christian institution, had its initial meeting to found that missionary enterprise.
Maruyama Park is a favorite cherry blossom viewing site in early April.
The huge San-Mon Gate is the main entrance to the grounds of Chion-in Temple.
Priest Honen, the founder of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, was born in a small village in present-day Okayama City. When he was nine years old, his father was fatally wounded by an attacker, and his dying father implored his son not to seek revenge but to become a monk. Following his father’s wishes, he studied at the Bodai-ji Temple near Okayama under a local priest who was also his uncle. Eventually, he moved to the monastery of Mount Hiei outside of Kyoto, where he was ordained into the priesthood in 1147. At 18 he left the monastery to wander as a hermit, seeking religious instruction from leading Buddhist priests throughout Japan. Settling in time in a hut in Kyoto, in 1175, when he was 43, he became convinced that salvation could come solely through the repetition of the Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu—”All Praise to the Amida Buddha”). In accepting this belief, he rejected the concept that one could be saved through one’s own efforts. As the “Age of Mappo” drew near, the Age of the Destruction of Buddha’s Law, Honen became convinced that man could no longer attain salvation by himself; one could still gain admittance to Paradise, but only through exclusive reliance on Amida and his mercy.
As Honen taught this doctrine, and as his fame grew, he was asked to preach at the Imperial court, but he devoted himself instead to preaching primarily to the common man. In 1198, at 66, he put his ideas into writing and so he made his teachings available to later generations as well as for his own time. His very popularity engendered jealousy in other, more orthodox Buddhist theologians, and this envy plagued him during his life-time and was to trouble his sect even after his death. (In 1201, Shinran (1173–1262) became one of his disciples, and he was later to found a variant Jodo sect.) By 1204 Honen had 190 disciples, but in that year the temples at Mount Hiei struck out at his faith by having the court forbid the use of the Nembutsu as an exclusive means of salvation. Basically, these temples were concerned over the growing popularity of Honen’s teachings and the spread of his beliefs among the people. His enemies even reached into the Imperial court to attack him, and when one of his disciples, Anraku, accepted two court ladies as nuns, his theological opponents influenced the former Emperor Go-Toba to order the execution of Anraku and another of Honen’s priests in 1207. As a corollary action, the Emperor also exiled Honen from Kyoto in that same year, when Honen was 74—an opportunity to spread his doctrine beyond the capital. At 79 Honen was pardoned. He returned to Kyoto, and re-established his hermitage at the present site of Chion-in. The following year he undertook a religious fast, a pious act that closed his life with his death.
The persecution did not end with Honen’s death, for his remains, and later his ashes, had to be secreted at various temples to escape the wrath of his theological opponents before the ashes came to rest in 1234 at the site of his former hermitage, the Chion-in Temple and the mausoleum for his ashes, a tomb which one of his disciples, Genchi, had erected in his honor. The new temple was destroyed by fire in 1431, but the greatest benefactor was Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had it rebuilt on three terraces—the Jo-dan, Chudan and Ge-dan (upper, middle and lower terraces). Another fire in 1633 burned all but the San-mon, Kyo-zo, Amida-do and Seishi-do, but Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu had the temple restored over the next eight years.
SAN-MON GATE Today, the temple grounds beyond Higashi-oji-dori are entered primarily through the San-mon Gate on its western side at Jingu-dori. This huge gateway is at the top of a series of stone steps with large lanterns standing on either side of and in front of the steps. Built between 1617 and 1619 at the order of Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada (restored in 1989), it is a two-story structure with a tile roof. The massive gateway measures 90 feet (27.4 m) wide by 44 feet (13.4 m) deep, by 80 feet (24.4 m) tall. It is a gate with three portals, each with a set of huge double doors, and is one of the most impressive gateways in Japan. A huge tablet, 5 feet (1.5 m) by 8 feet (2.4 m), in the calligraphy of the Emperor Reigan (1663–87) reads “Kacho Zan” (Flower Summit Mount). The second floor of the gateway has a hall in Chinese style, and on a platform at the rear of the hall is an image of Shaka (Sakyamuni) as the main object of worship, with images of Zenzai-doji on his left and Suda-choja on his right. On each side of the main images are eight life-sized rakan (disciples of Shaka) by the sculptor Koyu. The interior of the hall is decorated with paintings of mythological animals, dragons, and geometrical designs in rich colors, while the ceiling is enlivened by a painting of a dragon and apsara (angels) in the clouds. From the balcony, one can look down the avenue in front of the gate with its cherry trees leading up to the temple—and to the city beyond.
MIE-DO (MEMORIAL HALL) Once past the San-mon Gate, the largest and most important building of the temple, the Mie-do (Main or Memorial Hall) is on the left. The hall was built in 1639 in the Momoyama style by order of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu to hold the image of Honen as its main object of reverence. The single-story 11 by 9 bay structure is 174 feet (53 m) long by 140 feet (42.7 m) deep, and it stands 94.5 feet (28.8 m) high. It is surrounded by corridors 11 feet (3.4 m) wide. Under the southwest corner of the roof is an oiled umbrella (kasa) which was left in place by the builders at the time of construction as a charm to protect the Mie-do against the forces of evil. Legend, and there is always one, claims that the umbrella flew from the hands of a boy, the Shinto deity Inari in disguise, as the protector of the Chion-in to safeguard